Almost Human: Karl Urban and Michael Ealy on Portraying a Human/Robot Partnership

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Is your robot a Mac or a PC?

By Eric Goldman

Premiering Sunday night (and then airing in its normal, Monday night timeslot the day after with a different episode), Almost Human brings Fringe collaborators J.J. Abrams and J.H. Wyman back to FOX with a new sci-fi series. Created by Wyman, Almost Human takes place in the year 2048, as a human cop, John Kennex (Star Trek and Dredd's Karl Urban), is teamed with a now-requisite robot partner, Dorian (Sleeper Cell and The Good Wife's Michael Ealy), whether he likes it or not.

Last month, I was among a group of journalists who paid a visit to the set of Almost Human. Shortly before watching them film a scene where someone would get thrown through a window (a very cool stunt to see in person), Karl Urban and Michael Ealy sat down to discuss their roles on Almost Human and the dynamic of the characters on the series.

Karl Urban and Michael Ealy in Almost Human.

Question: Michael, is it tricky figuring out much Dorian should evolve week to week? The series is asking the question, “How much humanity does he have inside of him?” Do you have to think to yourself, “How quickly should I show him changing, or should I show him changing at all?”

Michael Ealy: What’s interesting about that question is I remember talking to Joel [Wyman] in our first meeting. I said, “Is Dorian a Mac or a PC?” He just laughed. I was like, “Because see, when I converted to Mac, the reason why I did it was because the PC took forever to scan viruses and boot up and everything. Mac was just like, boom, done, seven seconds, and you’re ready.” So the conclusion we came to was he was more of a Mac. In that scene in the car where he’s making noises and stuff, that’s him booting himself back up and getting ready. He’s starting to run through all of his programs and things. But ultimately, once he’s back up, he’s pretty much back up I think. For me, I think I would love to slow down Dorian’s growth as much as possible, because I’m thinking, maybe by Season 5, he’s wearing sunglasses, you know what I mean? That’s where I’m going with it, but we’re definitely accelerating it. I think it’ll work. You’ve kinda gotta grab the audience these days. I think the longer we stretch it out, the more problems we might have with that.

Question: What’s Dorian’s existence outside of his relationship with Kennex and outside of the job?

Ealy: Well, basically at the end of the night he goes back to Kennex’s apartment and hangs out with John at the apartment. We’re kind of like Lenny and Squiggy at the end of the day.

Karl Urban: I didn’t get that memo, the tonal shift!

Ealy: So far what we know is that Dorian, like the other MX’s, there’s a basement in the precinct, and they all go down there to power down and boot up for the next day, everything like that — and it’s something that Dorian despises. Now, there are times when you see Dorian away from Kennex and he’s doing his own thing, but in terms of his existence outside that, we haven’t quite fully explored that.

Michael Ealy as Dorian in Almost Human.

Question: How far do his emotions go? Can he grow to love his partner? Can he grow to love a woman?

Ealy: We’re going to find out. Right now, the chemistry is so good that we’re starting to — and this episode [we’re filming] is about friendship, so I think we’re starting to grow on each other. He sees my value, and I see his humanity, which wasn’t there in the pilot. I’m starting to see his humanity now. but for Dorian, his range of emotions, depending on what they show, they can go to very, very emotional to pretty stoic. That’s been kind of fun to play. There are times, especially in action sequences, when he’s just unstoppable.

Urban: Like a machine.

Question: Karl, what do you feel like John’s able to learn from Dorian?

Urban: I think that Dorian is a wonderful way for John to get in touch with his humanity. Dorian’s sheer inquisitiveness about why humans behave like they do is one avenue, or the mere fact that Dorian will question John on his action. In doing so provokes a bit of soul searching and deep thought on John’s behalf. And I think it’s a two-way street. I think Dorian learns lessons from John as well. I think that’s what makes their partnership so successful. Also, I think it’s wonderful because these characters have fun with each other. There’s a great chemistry and rapport, some great banter. We don’t always get on, and that’s funny and fun too. So there’s a lot of fertile ground.

Continue to Page 2 as Urban and Ealy discuss Kennex and Dorian’s captain, what they enjoy the most about making Almost Human and more.